Arsenal Must Deal With Pressure - CJ

Birmingham striker Cameron Jerome says that all the pressure will be on Arsenal in Sunday`s Carling Cup final at Wembley.

There is no doubt that the Gunners start as favourites to lift the trophy, but they have a fixture pile up at the moment and there is tremendous pressure on them to win something this season as the trophy cabinet has been bare for the last five years.

Jerome said: 'Will the lack of trophies put pressure on them? I think it is going to. They are overwhelming favourites and everyone is writing us off outside of our camp. That is going to add the pressure on them, and also them not winning a trophy for a while.

'They had a league game on Wednesday (against Stoke), have a narrow lead in the Champions League against Barcelona, and have also got an FA Cup replay.

'They are in a lot of competitions so hopefully we can catch them slipping.'

Jerome has got his head screwed on though, he accepts that Arsenal will have to be having something of an off day for Blues to step up their play and win the cup, but sees there is no harm in trying.

He added: 'But are their too many balls for Arsenal to juggle? Possibly. Definitely. I think Arsene Wenger would prefer to get a trophy.

'He is definitely going to go for it. It's a major cup final.

'But, with them having one eye on the Champions League, still being involved in the FA Cup and the league, maybe some of them will think in the back of their mind that the Barcelona game is more important then Birmingham.

'Hopefully they will get complacent and think they can just turn up to win comfortably.'